Eric Church Holds His Own in Brooklyn [Pictures]

"It’s just you and me tonight, Brooklyn," Eric Church tells the audience at his sold-out show at the Barclays Center. "You think you’re gonna hang with me tonight? We’re gonna go for a long damn time," Church declared to his Outsiders, and his insiders, for what may very well contribute to another record year for Chief.

Church certainly held his own on Friday night, and made good on that undertaking by delivering a marathon-sized show with a 39-song set list of fan favorites, with no opening act and an intermission in between. Opening the show with "Mistress Named Music" (which culminated with a church choir briefly joining Church on-stage), "That’s Damn Rock & Roll" and “The Outsiders,” the CMA Album of the Year-winning singer-songwriter delivered hit after hit. Church also performed “Give Me Back My Hometown,” “Drink in My Hand,” “Talladega,” “Creepin'" and the entirety of Mr. Misunderstood, additionally including offerings from his 2006 debut Sinners Like Me.

“These are the songs that didn’t go real well, that we haven’t played in many years since the bar and club days,” Church said during the performance.

Church and his band stormed into the second act of his show after a 20-minute intermission. “Halftime is over b----es, this time we get serious,” he said, starting off with “Ain’t Killed Me Yet.”

Church set up "Two Pink Lines" by describing, “A single that didn’t do that good, we decided to bring [it] back for this tour, and we decided to work it up a little different for the people who have been with us for the last 10 years."

The 39-year-old also took time out of the show to pay tribute to the late Merle Haggard with “Pledge Allegiance to the Hag.” He even performed a cover of Billy Joel’s “Allentown” before delving into his own “Springsteen” and paying tribute to the Boss himself with "Born to Run." The show came to a close with an intimate solo acoustic encore of "Holdin’ My Own," "Sinners Like Me" and "Those I’ve Loved."